Three row harvesting machine



April 7,1942. J. B. STIMATZE THREE ROW HARVESTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March- 20, 1941 o Q W a wlw--ifi-- 5 E a Q N M Q R 7 t Q QQ Mm m wwbw "m TMW ww m mx R ww Q .../Q u x 9w Patented Apr. 7, 1942 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE THREE ROW HARVESTING MACHINE John B. Stimatze, Syracuse, Kans. Application March 20, 1941, Serial No. 384,377

5 Claims.

This invention relates to harvesting machines and it consists in the constructions, arrangements and combinations herein described and claimed.

It is the cardinal object of the invention to provide a harvesting machine unit attachable to standard combines permitting the harvesting of crops planted inrows, such as corn, sugar cane and the like.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel drive for crop-gathering means of the unit, the power being obtained from the reel shaft of a combine. 7 1

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention will be apparent from the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of the harvester constructed for cutting vegetation positioned along three rows.

Figure 2'is a front elevation thereof, detached from the combine.

Figure 3 is a side elevation.

, Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 55 of Figure 1. V

Figure 6 is a detailed sectional view of the shaft coupling between the units.

Attention is first invited to Figure 1 of the drawings, wherein there is illustrated a threerow harvester I6, although this number is not arbitrary, since more or less units may be employed, as found desirable.

A bed or mounting plate is provided of'a length and weight to support the harvesting units A, B and C, and preferably the plate is in the form of an angle bar. Each unit A, B and C is of identical construction and therefore a description of one will be sufiicient for a full understanding of the construction and operation.

Each unit will be mounted upon the platform spaced apart so as to follow the crop rows and includes an upstanding rear wall I2, the end portions of which are bent forwardly at right angles as at I3. The wall I2 is rigidly secured to the mounting plate II by angle brackets I4. The medial portion of the plate I2 is cut vertically, inward of the angular portions I3 to approximately one-half the height of the plate I2, permitting the plate to be bent inwardly as at I5, for a purpose as will be presently explained.

A pair of outwardly diverging plates I6 are mounted upon the wall I2, one being positioned on either side of the inturned portion I5 of the iii) wall, each plate having a flange I! for securement to the wall I2. In addition, the lower portion of the plates I6 are braced and anchored to the wall I2 by angle plates I8.

The diverging plates I6 extend forwardly from the mounting plate II, and may be of any suitable length, this depending largely upon the crop being harvested, but in practice, it has been found practical to have the plates of approximately 30 inches long. The upperedge I9 of the plates I6 taper toward their forward ends and upon the outer side an angle plate 26 is fixed, as clearly shown in Figure 5.

Each of the plates I6 have a skid or shoe 2| for sliding support of the unit, and in the present instance, this is shown as a section of heavy Wire bent at the ends to define eyelets 22 and 23, the eyelet 22 being fixed to the adjacent wall I6 and the other eyelet 23 being secured to the mounting plate I I. The front end of the shoes are suitably shaped to permit ready forward travel of the harvester unit.

Each unit A, B, and C is provided with a cropgathering mechanism, presentlyto be described, and each unit must therefore be provided with a suitable drive for the crop-gathering mechamsm.

Attention is now invited to Figures 1 and 5 of the drawings for an understanding of the con-,

struction and operation of the drive wherein, each unit A, B, and C has a shaft 24 extended through the walls I 3 and I6, the shafts being coupled together by means of a socket 25, shown in detail in Figure 6. The shafts 24 are made in sections and coupled, to more readily assemble the mechanism and to also permit the installation of additional harvester units when required.

The shaft 24 of each unit A, B, and C has keyed thereto a bevel gear 26 in mesh with a similar gear 21 fixed to an upwardly, forwardly inclined shaft 28 suitably journalled in bearings 29 fixed to the walls I6, and an upper bearing 30 formed in the angle plate 20. The gears 26 and 2'! are so meshed as to cause clockwise rotation of one of the shafts 28, while a counter-clockwise rotation is given the other shaft in order that the gathering mechanism will be given a direction of travel to impinge upon the stalks of the crop to draw them into a cutter bar, to be described.

Each of the plates I5 are provided with a pair of elongated openings 3| extended longitudinally and parallel to the upper edge I9, the openings the plates l8 are provided with bearings 32 within which there is freely revoluble a shaft 33, the latter extending transversely across the slots 3|. A sprocket 34 is keyed or fixed to the shaft 33 and lies within the slots 3|. The sprockets 34 5 and 35 are of such diameter as to lie slightly outward of the wall l6 for a purpose as will presently appear.

A sprocket chain 36 is trained about each pair of sprockets 34 and 35 as clearly shown in Fig- 1 ures 1, 3 and 4, and the chains 36 have gripper fingers 31 fixed to certain links of the chain, presented outwardly therefrom, so that during; 1. movement of the chains 36 the. fingers will be carried along therewith. Obviously, the fingers l" will engage the stalks of the row tO.fOl'Clb1Y en.- gage a cutter bar 38 fixed to theplatform .l l, the cutter bar 38 being of a non-reciprocating type and positioned medially of respective units so as to properly engage the stalks.

Attention is nowdirected to Figures3 and 4 of the" drawings; ,where itwill be seenthat the cutter bars 38 are positioned at a level lower than the cutterbar 39 of a combine '(not shown), this being necessary so that the stalks which are cut 5 may pass beneaththe cutter bar 39. a

I have illustrateda sprocket upon one end of the shaft 24 driven by a chain 4|, the latter being entrained about a suitable gear (not shown) of the reel of the combine motion is thus 'im- 30 parted to the shaft 24 and associated gathering mechanisms. v

If found necessary, a supporting plate 42 may be mounted beneath the chains 36 to prevent sagging thereof and insure free movement of the 35 chains.

As shown in FiguresB and 4, the plate H of the harvester unit It is boltedto a forward extension ofqa combine indicated generally at 43 and in use, when the combine moves forwardly the harvester unit will be pushed forwardly in advance thereof, theu'nits A, B and C traversing thecrop rows. Motion being imparted to the chains 36, the picker fingers will engage stalks in H the rows, and draw them into engagement with the cutter bar 38 where they will be severed. The forwardly inclined plate will tend to direst the cut 'stalks in: the direction. of the combine where they may be gathered by any suitable 59 conveyor means or otherwise.

While I have specifically shown and described my invention, this is by way of illustration only, and- I consider as my own all such modifications in structure as fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

into engagement with respective cutter bars.

2. In a row crop harvester for attachment to a combine in advance of the forward travel thereof comprising a mounting plate, a plurality of harvesting. units on. the plate spaced longitudinally thereof, said units comprising rearwardly diverging, side plates, stalk-engaging means carried by .the diverging plates, said stalk-engaging means comprising chain members movable in a rearward direction and having lateral extended fingers for engaging a stalk to be cut, means for moving the chain, and acutter bar flxed'to the mounting plate betweenthe diverging plates mounted at a level lower than the cutter bar of the combine.

3. The structure of claim 2 in which each of the diverging side plates has a ground engaging Skid."

4. In a crop harvester for attachment to a combine in advance of the forward travel thereof comprising a mounting plate, a plurality of harvesting units mounted on'theplate spaced longitudinally thereof, each of said units c mprising rearwardly diverging side plates, a back wall connected to the side plates and the mounting plate, a forwardly-inclined plate between the side'plates, a cutter bar fixed to the mounting plate beneath the inclined plate and projected in advance thereof and'at' a levelbelow that of the cutter bar of the combine, a transverse shaft extended through the side plates of theunits at a point above the forward edge of the mounting plate, a bevel gear on the shaft next adjacent the divergingside plates, a rotatable shaft mounted upon the outer faces=of the diverging walls, a gear fixed to each of said last named shafts in mesh with the first named gear, a sprocket on each of the last named shafts, a sprocket rotatably mounted upon the forward ends of the diverging plates, a chain trainedabout aligned sprockets of each of the diverging plates, gripper fingers on each of the .chains adapted to engage stalks of a row and means to rotate said transverse shaft.

5. The structure of claim 4 in which the transverse shaft is separably connected between the units.

- JOHN B. STIMATZE. 

